A fabled land of farmers, farm shares, fancy (and not so fancy) restaurants, family meals, food projects and more.

Main menu

Cutting the fat (if you can believe it) in collards with bacon and cream

We know that spring must be near, because tender collard greens are starting to appear at our local markets. Southerner that she is, Michelle immediately began to think of collards and pork. The kind of slow-cooked, somewhat greasy goodness one finds at many “soul food” or “Southern style” restaurants, along with a cruet of vinegar to dilute the fat and give the greens a chance to surface.

Michelle left out the hock, cut the bacon and substantially reduced the cream. Our version still seemed plenty creamy and bacon-y, perhaps because our tender, sweet young collards (thanks local farmers!) didn’t need to be buried in a pile of pig meat. And perhaps because we’re less “Southern” than we used to be.

Post navigation

39 comments

I keep reading articles that tell me fat has been much maligned and isn’t the bad thing it’s been made out to be. A lot of people seem to be pointing the finger at carbohydrates and sugar. I don’t know if it’s true but I do like the idea.
Those collars and bacon look very good 😉

Thanks, MD! I bet you had some collards in your Southern days. I hope I live long enough for people to just say, like Julia Child did, “everything in moderation.” I am so weary of all the “don’t eat [fill in the blank]” hysteria that I could just scream! Obviously it’s a good idea to eat more good things and less bad ones, but food isn’t medicine.

Oh good Lord. This looks amazing. Greens are meant to be elevated like this. Good job in cutting the fat and cream. This is a great once in a while absolute delicious side dish. Well done. It feels like deep south to me.

If I may, and in the friendliest of ways: – Hippocrates, the Father of Modern Medicine did say:
‘Let Food be thy Medicine and Medicine be thy Food’ . . .
Without wanting to spoil anyone’s fun may I suggest food is the main medicine both preventative and curative which mankind possesses. Most pills causing so many ills themselves could be flushed down the toilet if people [I mean in the Western World with access to food] ate correctly. Yes, we should eat a ‘balanced’ diet but even some doctors do not know how to define that sensibly and many sin most dreadfully themselves 🙂 ! About 25-30% of fat is usually recognized as advisable: good fats that is – definitely not saturated or transfats used in commercial cooking. Look at the current obesity levels, look at the increase in cancer and diabetes of the past decades – all food and lack of exercise caused. [What right do I have to speak up: perhaps none, but I have done six years of Medical School and now studied 25 years of nutrition at university level and am still studying at three unis at the moment – only saying as I truly am not some kind of a ‘ratbag’]. Can one be a foodie and still follow some simple rules: you bet!! My apologies for speaking up!

You may anytime! I really was just talking about how people—especially Americans—seem to jump on these bandwagons and decide “If I eat this one thing” or “If I never eat this one thing” … everything will be okay. Which is silly. (Unless of course you have a real medical condition that dictates not eating certain things.)

Michelle ~ I almost did not sleep after posting this last night! And I DO promise not to be a ruddy ‘spoilsport’ on your blog again!! It is just that it is very difficult to be a teacher and not speak up!! Thank you for being so gracious!!!

You cut the cream and it still looks so decadently rich, I can’t imagine what the original recipe would have looked like! And yay for fresh new crops — spring is officially on its way. I know I’m ready for it!

I was just about to write: Can there ever be too much butter? after all, it´s the fat that best transports all the flavors. But after reading the comments, I was about to answer in a bit of a different way. But then again, no. It´s all about delight here, at least for me. So I´d like to put it that way: Can there ever be too much butter?

Michelle and Steve… I love these photos. The water droplets and kale photo up close is beautiful. This dish looks fresh, Southern and rich. The puddling cream on the plate is elegant. You made some healthy changes, yet kept all of the flavor. I am looking forward to trying this with some beef bacon and local kale soon, which is now on sale at the local Co-Op. This is a great, seasonal post. Warm wishes… Shanna

Understandable, Shanna. I actually made this with lacinato kale once. And it really wasn’t as good. The kale threw in a bitter note that didn’t quite work with the sweet and sour. But, oh, I love kale.

Is that the dinosaur kale? I added some sautéed baby kale to a macaroni and cheese last night and it was sweet, unlike the larger, bitter varieties. Isn’t that fascinating? Anyway, for a good Southern girl, there is no excuse for anything but collards. 🙂

These are a delicious example of greens being far from boring. Albeit here’s bacon, ham hocks and cream, but surely it’s about the yummy things which a company everyday meals in life too. I agree those water droplets are perfection and I love fresh greens, whether bitter or savoury, textural & more. I’ve never tried collard greens but if I do, this would be mighty tasty!

The current trend (read fad) of people refusing to eat this or that is an affront to the millions of people who go to bed hungry every night. I wonder how many of the have “issues with gluten”?
I love me some greens, Michelle, but have never had them prepared with cream. Pig hocks and bacon, yes. Cream, no. Your dish sounds really good, though, and I’ll be sure to give cream a try. It really is too good to pass up.

That’s interesting, Raymund. I know they have collards all over Eastern Europe and Africa. I figured they’d have them your way, too. The leaves are probably a bit more leathery than gailan, but they’re from the same family of plants, so I don’t know why not.

This was so interesting. I tasted my first collards as an adult, and have been playing with them ever since, usually to see if there’s a way to shorten the cooking time. I’m concluding there isn’t. I haven’t encountered them with cream before–it sounds a little counterintuitive to me, like kale with cream–but sometimes those can be the best way to go. I like your reduced cream version–it does sound incredibly good. It’s on the list. Ken

I had never seen greens of any sort (except, of course, spinach) with cream before. It is a nice counterpoint to the sweet and sour. It’s funny, though they’re such a Southern thing, I don’t remember collards all that much when I was a kid. Although my grandmother and mother would mix up all sorts of greens (turnip, kale, mustard, etc.) so I probably just wasn’t very interested and didn’t notice.